


Trails Left Untrod

by CavannaRose



Series: Critical Role Fics [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Cobalt Soul, F/F, Mentions other characters, My brain really wanted to write this for some reason, Twenty Years Later, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, reconnecting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-17 21:46:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16104449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CavannaRose/pseuds/CavannaRose
Summary: Twenty years down the road, Beau has returned to the Cobalt Soul, marked by her time with the Mighty Nein, as well as memories of a dwarf who snuck away in the early morning hours.





	Trails Left Untrod

Admittedly, Beauregard was not great at relationships. People in general were not exactly her strong suit. Still, she was a woman who knew her mind, most of the time, and she definitely knew what she liked. Or so she had thought. The first time she had seen Yasha, all those rippling muscles and long hair… well let’s just say it had been lust at first sight. She had done her best to flirt, to throw decreasingly subtle hints at the big barbarian, but nothing seemed to penetrate the aasimar’s stoic façade. Nothing until Molly had been taken from them, at least.

Beau still had high hoped for the tall, pale warrior, but ever a realist, she kept her options open. That’s how she had ended up with Keg, after all. Keg was… Keg had been a surprise of the most welcome variety. Matching the monk’s ham-handed flirtation with her own awkward charm, the pair had rubbed along together quite well in combat, and then even better in their little room later that night. Up until that point Beauregard hadn’t given much thought to dwarves, but Keg had made her a believer. So much strength in such an attractive package, it was easy to forget how small Keg actually was. No one had been surprised by the sound of armor clanking out of Beau’s room the following morning, after all Beau had loudly and boldly given the dwarf permission in exactly that many words, but the note had been unexpected. It warmed the monk right down to the toes in a most embarrassing fashion. Better to quell those ideas and flex her muscles as the confirmed lady-killer of the group.

She smiled, running a hand through hair that was beginning to go grey. The sides were growing out, and if she wasn’t careful she’d look like the stereotypical image of a shaggy monk going to seed. Beau examined her reflection in the polished metal looking glass, admiring the way her lean limbs still held defined muscles, and the sharp glint of intelligence in her eyes. She hadn’t lost any of her edge in the years since leaving the Mighty Nein, though some days she was amazed she’d made it out at all. Long white scars crisscrossed her dark skin, weaving tales of triumphs and failures. Though she didn’t mind the life she had earned with the Cobalt Soul, here at the very edge of the empire, she missed the comraderies she had shared with her former companions.

Pursing her lips she crossed the room, pulling her razor with every intent of fixing the disaster that her hair had become before facing the world outside where she was _responsible_ and had _duties._ How Caleb had laughed when the position was offered to her, he had thought she would turn it down flat. Fjord had known though, he had a way about him like that. A husky cough interrupted her train of thought, and like a blur she whirled, the razor in her hand embedding with a loud thunk in the wood of a small round shield. Over the edge of the shield, an unexpectedly familiar face grinned. “I guess I have gotten sneakier since you saw me last.”

“Keg…” Beau didn’t know what to say. Over the years there had been more letters like the one left on the bedside table the morning the dwarf had snuck out, all of them as nearly illiterate as the first, filled with tales of her own road to redemption as she wiped out what remained of the Iron Shepherd’s support system, but she hadn’t returned, and Beau hadn’t asked her to. Years of learned grace and social skills blew away like so much chaff, and the monk blushed, one hand awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck. “I … I didn’t know you were coming.”

A twinkle showed in the armored female’s eye as she pulled the razor out of her shield and placed it carefully on the table. “I know. All these years, you never invited me back, and I kept waiting. I had a talk with the tall tea guy, Deuces? Interesting fellow, ran into him outside of Jorhas, running a little chapel. He had a few things to say, all quiet and slow and gentle, that made me think you’d be willing to see me.”

Beau shook her head, a small smile quirking up the corner of her lips as she took in Keg’s rugged figure. She was wearing her beard longer, and somehow the wispy hairs suited her, she was wearing her hair longer too, and it came in a harsh slice across her face, highlighting the scars there rather than hiding them. She was so damn handsome, and Beau felt a familiar warmth building inside her, but of course her own clumsy tongue got in the way. “I suppose I’m always ready to visit with old friends, though the Nein don’t swing this way very often.”

Keg placed her shield down and unstrapped her belt, the axe and hammer falling to the ground with a thud before she stepped out of the heavy leather loop. There was a glint in the dwarf’s eye that Beau didn’t quite understand, but she stiffened her shoulders and watched the other woman approach. Beauregard of the Cobalt Soul didn’t back down for any reason, even though a tiny voice inside her was suggesting that maybe she should flee. “And how many old friends besides the Nein come visiting, Beau? I heard tales down in the village that you get a lot of pretty young things in and out of here. Of course, if you listen really carefully, you hear that they don’t stay long either.”

The monk swallowed, colour darkening her cheeks as Keg moved ever closer, slowly unbuckling her armor as she spoke so casually, as if they were discussing the weather as opposed to Beau’s reputation with the local females. It wasn’t that she was bored of flirting about, it was just that the girls around here were so young and soft. Beau had always liked a little more spine and steel in her partners. The chest plate of Keg’s armor hit the ground, the clang of metal on stone jerking Beau out of her reverie. She couldn’t stop the way that her eyes swept the dwarf’s form, lingering longingly along taut muscles and barely discernable curves. Her fingers itched to reach out, but she balled them up in little fists, finally relenting to the trembling within her and taking a step back. “Little girls with heads full of silly stories. It’s too easy.”

Keg laughed, deep and rough, her voice trailed across Beau’s skin like a lover’s caress. The monk leaned into the sound, closing her eyes and relishing it. They had laughed a fair bit, in their night together. It had been… fun. She opened her eyes to see that Keg was right in her personal space now, placing one big, calloused hand on Beau’s hip. “I’d hate to think all these years you’d just been a bit shy. We had a lot of fun, and I hate to say it, but I had really hoped you wanted more.”

Beau allowed her lips to tip up, her smile that of the awkward young woman from all those years ago. “Pride and stubbornness more than shyness, I’m afraid. I thought you’d come back, but I would be damned before I would ask you to.” What had she lost, in all that time? Would Keg be upset with the truth that she had laid down so bluntly? If so, well that would be the dwarf’s loss. She was what she was, and if all those years travelling with the Nein hadn’t softened her towards social niceties, a chance encounter in her quarters with a devilishly attractive dwarf wasn’t going to do it.

With a short burst of laughter, Keg swept Beau up into her arms, holding the slender human to her chest and grinning at the small yelp of startlement Beau had let out. “Pride and stubbornness? Sounds like the Beau I knew. How about we start back up where we left off? I think it was about… here.” With that Keg caught Beau’s lips with her own, the scrape of her beard against the monk’s neck as she trailed kisses from those soft lips and along her jaw, following down to the edge of Beau’s shirt made the monk tingle with need.

“Yeah. I think we were about there…”


End file.
